This invention relates generally to holographic apparatus and method and more particularly relates to holographic interferometer apparatus and method capable of producing holograms of objects utilizing multiple exposure photography and reconstructing the holograms so produced.
The usefulness of a hologram lies in its ability to record and completely reconstruct the complex lightwave pattern scattered by an object illuminated by coherent radiant energy. In contrast to the limited object representation of a conventional photograph, the completeness of the hologram reconstruction allows observations to be made on the reconstructed waves in the same way they would be made on the waves scattered from the real object. In an optical sense, the hologram provides the closest substitute for having the real object itself available for examination. This becomes extremely important when the object is moving or changing too fast to make direct observations of it.